Thin Client Registry Settings

The registry stores information necessary to configure the Thin Client for applications and hardware devices. The registry also contains information that the operating system continually references during operation.

By default, the Windows Thin Client image includes the correct components. You change these settings to customize the thin client.

You can change the device registry settings in the following ways:

• Before building and downloading the image, modify the Project.reg file. For more information about modifying this file, see Modifying the Registry by Editing Project.reg.
• After downloading the image, use the Remote Registry Editor. Using the Remote Registry Editor changes the image registry, but the changes are not persistent to the registry files in Platform Builder. The next time you download the image, you must configure the registry again. For information about how to use the Remote Registry Editor, see Remote Registry Editor.

The following table shows the areas that you can configure in the registry.

Note   The default registry values vary depending on which features are included in your platform. For more information, see Default Registry Settings.

You should add a printer through the printer wizard rather than configure it in the registry. Registry settings for installed printers are provided for your convenience.

Configuring the Control Panel

The HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CtlpnlApplet registry key is the base registry key for the Control Panel utility. The following table shows the named value.

The HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CtlpnlApplet\WizCplApplet registry key controls the Control Panel wizard. The following table shows the named values.

The HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CtlpnlApplet\TermPropCplApplet registry key controls the Control Panel property utilities. The following table shows the named values.

Note   You can add Control Panel utilities by adding additional entries to this registry key. You can include any of the components listed in Control Panel Components. For an example of how to add a control panel utility in the projects.reg file, see Customizing the Thin Client OS Image.

Configuring the Terminal Services Client

The Terminal Services Client is controlled by the Terminal Server Client node in the registry. The HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Terminal Server Client registry key controls the configuration of the Terminal Services Client. The following table shows the named values.

**Note   **Windows CE .NET 4.2 does not use the CEUseScanCodes registry key.

The following code example shows the registry settings in Rdp.reg that associate .rdp files with CETSC.

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.rdp]
    @="rdpfile"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\rdpfile]
    @=LOC_RDPCONNECTION
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\rdpfile\DefaultIcon]
    @="\\Windows\\cetsc.exe,-101"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\rdpfile\Shell\Open\Command]
    @="\\Windows\\cetsc.exe %1"

For more information about RDP Registry Settings, see RDP Registry Settings.

Configuring the Windows Thin Client Shell

The HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WBT\Shell registry key configures the Windows Thin Client Shell.

Note   Microsoft does not recommend changing the default values for these registry settings without careful study of the environment as adjusting registry parameters may adversely affect system performance.

The following table shows the named values. These values are optional.

For more information about configuring the Windows Thin Client Shell, see Customizing the Thin Client OS Image.

Configuring Hot Keys

You must provide hot-key support to the user. At minimum, you must set the default hot key connection for each Windows Thin Client device in the registry. You can modify these connections if you wish.

You must also provide a UI in the Setup Property Sheets by which the user can enable hot-key support or make it unavailable. You have the option of making the hot keys configurable.

The following table shows the default hot-keys used to switch tasks between emulator sessions and process management. These keys are used when a user creates and ends sessions.

The hot key settings are stored in the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WBT\Shell.

The following table shows the named values for this registry key. No restart is required when you change these settings.

**Note   **The shell allows for three hot keys to be specified. You can enable either all three of them or none of them. You cannot enable one or two hot keys. For hot-key support to be enabled, all of the hot keys must be registered successfully. If any key fails to register as a hot key, then hot-key support is unavailable.

HotKey1Vkey = 0x21 (VK_PRIOR)
HotKey1fMod = 0x03

Configuring Screen Savers

The Windows Thin Client Shell supports screen savers. If you want the shell to load a screen saver after a specified period of time, you must include the dynamic-link library (DLL) of the screen saver in your image. You must also configure the registry to support the screen saver. The following registry key shows the required settings for Windows Thin Client.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power]
    "BattPowerOff"=DWORD:0
    "ExtPowerOff"=DWORD:0
    "ScreenPowerOff"=DWORD:300

The ScreenPowerOff registry entry specifies the amount of time, in seconds, that must elapse with no user input before the shell starts the screen saver. To prevent the network from resetting the no-activity timer, the following registry setting must be entered.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Comm\CXport]
    "NoIdleTimerReset"=DWORD:1

When the user presses the CTRL+ALT+END key combination, the Windows Thin Client Shell brings the shell UI to the foreground. To configure this key combination, set the following registry entries.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DEVICEMAP\KEYBD]
    "DriverName"="Kbdmouse.dll"
    "CalVKey"=DWORD:0
    "ContLessVKey"=DWORD:0
    "ContMoreVKey"=DWORD:0
    "TaskManVKey"=DWORD:23

The HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WBT\Shell registry key configures the screen saver for the thin client shell. The following table shows the named values.

Configuring Thin Client Startup Behavior

You can configure the shell to start applications automatically prior to launching the user interface (UI). Use this functionality for applications that require a UI, such as the Windows Thin Client Setup Wizard, and that must run before the shell UI is started. Applications that do not require a UI must start as part of the Windows CE initialization process.

For each application that you want to start automatically, you must create a unique key in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software\Microsoft\WBT\Shell\Startup key.

The key name is converted to an integer by the shell, and should therefore be a name that is converted easily; for example, 1, 10, or 20. Each Startup key represents an index that specifies the order in which an application must be started. The key name can represent an integer of 1 or greater; indexes are not required to be sequential. The shell first starts the application that has the lowest index value, and works its way up to the application that has the highest index value.

The following is an example of some application Startup keys.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software\Microsoft\WBT\Shell\Startup\10]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software\Microsoft\WBT\Shell\Startup\20]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software\Microsoft\WBT\Shell\Startup\21]

The following table shows the entries that you must add to each Startup key.

Note   If the required values are either not set or are not valid, then the shell ignores the value and no error is posted to the user.

Configuring Client Information

The root key, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WBT\Clients\Registration, contains information that the shell uses to determine registered clients. The following table shows the named values.

From the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WBT\Clients\Registration root, each client must have its own subkey with a unique name. This subkey contains the information about the client and about each connection that has been defined for it.

The following are examples of client information keys.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WBT\Clients\Registration\RDP]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WBT\Clients\Registration\VT100]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WBT\Clients\Registration\3270]

The HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WBT\Clients\Registration\Your client name registry key contains client information. If the entry of a client is incomplete or invalid, then the shell ignores the client, and a user is not able to create connections that are based on it. No error message is posted if the shell encounters a client that is not properly configured.

The following table shows the named values for a client.

The following code example shows the client information key that is required for RDP:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WBT\Clients\Registration\RDP]
    "Description"="Microsoft Remote Desktop Client"
    "Type"="RDP"
    "NewExe"="Tsconwiz.exe"
    "NewCmdLineArgs"=""

The Windows Thin Client Shell also requires information about how to start, edit and delete each connection that it manages. This information is specified in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WBT\Clients\Registration\Your client name\Connections\Your connection name registry key.

You must create a Connections key in the root of each registered client. Each subkey in the Connections key represents a connection entry. The client's connection key must contain all values that are required by the shell. Each client must maintain its connection key. If subkey entries for a client are changed, the system does not need to be reset.

The shell enumerates the Connections key to determine the list of connections that are defined for each client. The shell updates the connection information of a client after an add operation, an edit operation, or a delete operation by a user.

Connection named values must be placed in the root of the key defined for each connection. If the registry values of a connection are incomplete or are not valid, then the shell will ignore the connection and the connection will not be listed in the shell. However, an error message is not posted to the user if the shell encounters an improperly configured connection.

The following table shows the named values for each Connections key. These values are required.

Configuring Printers

Both the Add Printer Wizard (APW) and Setup user interfaces (UIs) are backed by logic that reads and writes printer information. Additional printer manufacturers and models can be added to ntprint_parsed.txt, and built into the run-time image (NK.BIN). The printer name must be identical to the printer name of the server, so that the correct driver can be loaded onto the server during a redirected print operation.

The registry settings for the installed printers are stored in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\WBT\Printers\DevConfig\<LPT#> subkey, where <LPT#> indicates any physical port that is available on the Windows Thin Client. For example, LPT1, or LPT2.

Do not add new printers by adding registry settings. Instead, add new printers by using the Add Printer wizard. Depending on the printer added, this wizard adds critical binary data to the registry that is used for the redirected printing.

Addition of a new printer through the wizard has additional associated logic in RDP. Binary data associated with the printer is stored in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Terminal Server Client\Default\AddIns\RDPDR under the named value PrinterCacheData0.

For details regarding the format of this data refer to %_WINCEROOT%\Public\Rdp\Oak\Uit\Wbttscmn\Printerhelper.cpp

The following table shows values that are created and used internally by the Windows Thin Client components. These values should never be modified using the Registry Editor. They are listed here for reference only.

The following table shows the value that is created and used internally by the Windows Thin Client components. This value should never be modified using the Registry Editor. It is listed here for reference only. This entry is located under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\WBT\Printers key.

See Also

Windows Thin Client Configuration | Customizing the Thin Client OS Image | RDP Registry Settings

Last updated on Wednesday, April 13, 2005

© 2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.